Depressed about the world

My relationship with mankind (I'm sorry, humankind just sounds awkward) seems to be a bit of a roller coaster. On the one hand, I can have a marvelous vacation without spending a huge amount of money, and taking advantage of the marvelous infrastructure built up in this country, but on the other, I wonder how much the current situation differs from the current direction. (and for that matter, about the acceleration and jerk as well)

Friedman was right in 2008 and he's right now: this country has lost its way. We cry for lower taxes (R)/more spending (D) while we continue to borrow. We continue to buy junk food, and obesity isn't getting better. We treat our enemies as if they were Nazi Germany (with huge resources), and simply create more enemies with our policies.

For example: the Imam in charge of the 9/11 community center said that US policies were an "accessory" to 9/11. Accessory has a few meanings, but people balked at any idea that we could have possibly deserved such horror while missing the point that reasons and causes are different than justifications.

Let's say that you are at a bar and you get into a fight , then the person you were fighting follows you home and shoots your spouse. Is that person a murderer? YES. Is it their fault? YES. Did the fight you were in have something to do with it? ALSO YES.

In fact, I'd call the fight an "accessory" to the murder, because without it, the murder would not have occurred. That doesn't justify the murder, but it can help us to understand that getting into future fights might be a bad idea. It's a very imperfect comparison, but understanding the root causes of something should never be seen as justification.

So I'm a little depressed. Whoever out there thinks Obama is Muslim needs to do some research - it's a pity that with so much information available, so many of all political opinions still choose not to think.